This IDC study provides the first look at preliminary 2006 revenue data for the operating systems and subsystems market and provides a five-year forecast for this market, including forecasts by operating system platform and geographic region.

"The shortfall of Windows COE shipments, related to the Windows Vista launch, caused a revenue shift that moved new spending dollars from 2006 into 2007, which caused IDC to lower totals for 2006 but raise the forecast for 2007 in recognition of how this transition will take place," said Al Gillen, research vice president, System Software, at IDC. "We expect the operating systems and subsystems market to grow at a 2006–2011 CAGR of 5.8%."